A New Life
by Felidaes' Tale
Summary: There are rumors of a secret research facility in Death Valley, CA. Rumors that scientists are illegally genetically enhancing stolen children and performing terrible experiments on them. When S.H.I.E.L.D. hears of these rumors, they send a certain red-headed assassin and spy to investigate. My first fanfic please read and review!
1. Chapter 1

**Hi, my name is Felidae's Tale and this is my 1****st**** ever fanfiction. I hope I did a good job with this chapter. Please let me know if I make a mistake regarding any character personalities, grammar, spelling, or whatever. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or Maximum Ride. **

**Now on with the story! **

Footsteps sounded down the hallway of cages. We all scrambled back in our cages, trying to hide in the shadows; desperately praying that it wasn't our turn. Our turn to get shocked, poked, prodded, burned, almost drowned, injected, ripped to shreds, or whatever else the whitecoats decided they wanted to test on us. What are whitecoats? They are the scientists that perform countless painful experiments on us. Who are we? We're the children that were taken from our parents as babies into this life of pain. This is the "School" as some of us call it. It's a research facility that experiments with human DNA. All of us children are different. Our DNA was combined with animal DNA when we first arrived here. Some of us are part bird, feline, lizard, fish, frog, or some other animal. Most of us don't survive past the age of 2. Those of us who were unlucky enough to survive have been enduring painful experiments ever since and developed strange abilities or appendages. Some of us have the ears, eyes, skin, tails, teeth, or other appendages of the animal we were mixed with.

I curled up into a ball, well, as much as I could in my tiny cage. I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing. Maybe they would think I was still passed out from my last experiment? The footsteps came to a halt outside my cage. I stayed perfectly still, praying they'd believe I was passed out.

"Get up. I know you're awake." The harsh voice of a whitecoat said. Rough hands opened my cage and pulled me out. I stumbled a bit, my weak legs giving out a bit. I whirled around and faced them. It was Maze and another whitecoat I didn't know. Maze was the one that loved to put us through the maze test. It was filled with barbed wire, electric shockers that shocked you if you stopped to rest, and Erasers. Those were the vicious lupine hybrids. They loved the blood of other experiments and served as guards and punishers.

The other whitecoat was new. At least, I'd never seen her before. She had long, curly, red hair and emotionless brown eyes that seemed to be hiding something. I wonder what.

I hissed at them, baring my long fangs, my long tail whipping back and forth. My claws unsheathed and I rushed at them only to be grabbed from behind around the neck. I stiffened and stopped my attempt at attack, knowing what was holding me. Knowing that there was no more hope of escaping…at least not today. The Eraser holding me handcuffed my hands behind my back and shoved me forward, sending me face first into the floor. I put my claws away and closed my eyes. Maze grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and roughly pulled me up.

"Enough of that. You wouldn't want to waste your energy before your test would you?" He told me. My eyes opened and widened in fear.

"You hold her. Grab her by the neck and the base of the tail, she won't try and get away if you do." The other whitecoat came forward and grabbed me as he said. One hand went around the back of my neck and the other went around my tail. I noticed her hands were surprisingly gentle as if she didn't want to hurt me.

"No need to be gentle. It's not like it has feelings." Maze told her. Her hands tensed to look as if she was holding me tightly but no more pressure was actually put. Maze turned away fooled by her trick and began to lead the way to where my next experiment was going to be held. I would've tried to escape if the Eraser hadn't been following us.

We went down white hallways and through white doors, until we finally stopped in front of a door with the sign "MAZE 1" on it and I cried on the inside. I stayed perfectly cool and collected on the outside though. Maze opened the door.

"Put her right in here Natalie. You know what to do." Maze directed the last part towards me. The Eraser undid the handcuffs and Natalie pushed me inside.

Inside I rubbed my wrists and waited for the bell that signaled me when to start. Natalie was strange. She was the only whitecoat that hadn't hurt me when given permission to. She seemed nice, if not mysterious.

The bell ringed and I darted forward.

****Time skip. Two hours of the maze later****

I collapsed in my cage, exhausted. Every part of me hurt. My feet had gotten burned so many times, my sensitive ears blasted with loud noise, and I didn't stop the whole time in the maze. Not even when the Eraser clawed my arm when I made a wrong turn into their section. I looked at the bandages covering my arm. Blood was beginning to stain the white fabric. Natalie had been the one to wrap it up. They had told her to take me straight to my cage, but instead she stopped and wrapped it up for me. She had been very gentle with me. It confused me.

_Flashback:_

_ "Take her back to her cage." Maze told Natalie. _

_ She grabbed me gently by my neck and tail and led me away. The look on her face when she saw me come out of the room had been pure horror. It had quickly been replaced by indifference though. But I saw it. _

_ We went back down the hallways and doors when she took a turn that we hadn't taken on the way and stopped in front of a door with the sign "Medical Supplies" on it. She let go of my tail and opened the door slightly and stuck her head in. When she seemed satisfied she opened the door fully and led me inside. After closing the door quietly and locking it, she sat me on a metal fold up chair._

_ "If I let you go do you promise to not attack me? I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to bandage up your arm." She asked quietly. I was so confused by her behavior that I nodded, promising not to hurt her. She let my neck go and I watched as she turned around to find the gauze. Quickly finding it, some water, and a towel, she began to gently clean my wound. _

_ "Why are you doing this?" I whispered. No one had gone against orders and wrapped one of my wounds. No one had ever been gentle to me. _

_ "Because I don't think children should have to go through this. No one should." She replied equally quiet. We both knew that there was a security camera watching us. Why would she work here if she didn't like the experiments? _

_ "What's your name?" she asked me as she started wrapping up my arm with the gauze. _

_ "I don't have one. What's yours?" I asked her back, even though I knew the answer. _

_ "My name's Natasha but call me Natalie for now. How old are you?" my eyebrows furrowed in confusion, then thought. How old was I? _

_ "I'm not sure. What year is it?" I asked, hissing when Natasha pulled the bandage tight._

_ "It's the year 2012. How long have you been here?" My eyes widened in shock. _

_ "I've been here since 2001. I was born 1997. That means I'm…15." I'd been here most of my life. I'd missed out on most of my life while being in here. Tears welled up in my eyes and I shut my eyes, trying to stop them. Tears meant weakness, weakness meant painful test to "make me stronger". When I got the tears to go away, I opened my eyes and saw Natasha looking at me with sympathy in her eyes. _

_ "You think you know what I'm feeling but you don't." I said glaring at her._

_ "I know I don't. I have a friend that does though. I think you'll be good friends when you meet him. Come on, I'm done wrapping it. How does it feel?" she said. I looked down at my arm. It was now encased in layers of gauze._

_ "It feels a lot better." I replied._

_ "Good. Now, I have to take you back to your cage before they notice how long you've been gone." I got up and we headed to the door. She placed her hand around my neck and led me back to my cage. _

_End Flashback_

Everything about her confused me. Why was she so nice? Why does she act like she cares about me? Why does she work here if she doesn't like the experiments? And what did she mean, "When you meet him" when talking about her friend?


	2. Chapter 2

Natasha POV

I sat down on the bed in the hotel room I was staying in, taking in what I had seen today. The screams of the children that I escorted to the experiment rooms echoed in my ears. The look of terror on their faces when Dr. Victors and I came in danced in my head. Some of them were so young! I remember a 5 year old that seemed to be part raccoon. Then there was the first girl that I had taken. The one with what seemed like leopard DNA. She was so weak that she stumbled when taken out of her cage but then snarled at us with a viciousness that made me want to take a step back. Then when the wolf-hybrid grabbed her neck she just looked like she knew there was no chance and stopped struggling. She was already so skinny that there was no way I was going to hurt her anymore that she was already.

It was when the girl was pulled out of the maze that Natasha realized the true horror though. The girl was so bruised, battered, exhausted, and to top it all off, had an arm that looked like it had been put through a cheese grater. And Dr. Victors had just shrugged it off and told me to put the girl in the cage. When I started to clean the wound she looked so confused. Like no one had ever bothered to be nice to her before. She told me she had no name and when she realized how long she'd been there, she looked like she was going to break down. I had to force myself to bring her back to her cage. I don't want her to spend more days and nights in that hellhole.

I pulled out the tablet that Tony had given to me and dialed Tony. The rest of the Avengers (minus Thor) would surely be there, waiting for her to call. He picked up and the screen showed him, the Avengers, and Fury seated on a couch in the tower. Well, Fury was pacing.

"The rumors we picked up on were true." I said before any of them could speak.

"How bad is it?" Fury asked. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as the image of the girl flashed in my mind.

"It's worse than we imagined. There are about 50 kids from what I saw, ages ranging from 2 to 16. The scientists there have mixed their DNA with animal DNA, resulting in improved senses and parts of the animal. One girl I saw had the eyes, pattern, claws, fangs, and tail of a leopard. All the children are very skinny and have injuries from the tests they have put through. The leopard girl had her arm shredded during a test with one of the more vicious mutants. She's about 15 years old and has been there since she was 4." I explained, my voice cracking slightly at the end.

"We need to get them out of there as soon as possible." I said.

"Where would they be taken though?" Fury said. "The place is in the middle of Death Valley, we'd need some way to transport them to a safe place."

"I don't know! We just need to get them somewhere _safe._ Right now, their place of safety is a _dog kennel_. The tests they undergo are terrible. They're pushed to the limit, and then pushed even farther. They're injected with stuff that makes them hurt so bad that they're _begging_ for mercy, for death. Leopard Girl was put into a maze and they shocked and burned her feet when she slowed down. She was climbing barbed wires and her arm was torn open by one of those wolf-hybrids! And the freaking scientist just shrugged at her wound and told me to put _it_ back in _its_ cage! I didn't listen and took her to a room with medical supplies and when I started to clean her arm she was confused! She asked me, "Why are you doing this?" like no one had ever been so nice to her before. I asked her what her name was, and she told me, "I don't have one." And when I told her the year so I could figure out how old she was she looked like she was going to break down! 11 years of her life, spent in a dog crate! You try telling me now that we can't help her. If you won't help me then I'll get her out myself!" I was shouting at the end and tears had welled up in my eyes.

At first the Avengers looked startled at her outburst. Usually she was the one that didn't get emotionally attached and stayed cool and collected. But after she had seen the children and the pain they were put through everyday, some part of her just snapped. Then their faces grew solemn and determined.

Fury looked deep in thought. He knew that if all the Avengers got in on it, they would do it with or without him.

"Alright. We can get a few of them out for now. We'll get your leopard girl and a few others." Fury said. Natasha beamed.

"I think we should send in Banner first. We can have him go undercover as a doctor so he can see whom we should take. After we'll send in Rodgers as another scientist to help you get them." He said and I nodded.

"What about me?" Tony said.

"You can give us a distraction. Start blowing things up. Also if you can get Jarvis to disable some of the security cameras that would be great. " I said and he nodded, grinning.

"Clint, can you take one of the jets and get us out of there?" I asked him. He nodded.

"We'll get Banner over there in two days. Then Rodgers will come after you've determined who will come." Fury said.

"Okay. I'll give you another update tomorrow. Bye." I said and I hung up, grinning. Leopard Girl won't have to spend another week there.

****LINE BREAK*****

In the School two days later

I woke with a start, gasping for breath. Seeing that I was in my cage, I let out a sigh of relief. I hated when I dreamed about tests. Last night's had been particularly brutal. I re-lived the maze test I had done a few days ago when I first met Natasha except that instead of helping me, Natasha had started beating me, tearing at me with a knife. Shaking my head to clear my mind of the dream, I looked at the other cages to see who was awake.

Next to me, I saw that Will was up and looking at me curiously. He has dark brown hair and pale skin. He seems to be about my age, maybe a bit older. He's mixed with bird DNA I could see the pair of dark brown wings on his back.

"Nightmares," I told him and he nodded in understanding.

"They happen to the best of us…I guess that means that everyone here is the best." He told me and I smiled. For being relatively new, he'd quickly become my best friend. We told each other everything. Yesterday I told him about Natasha. He didn't believe me until she escorted him to an experiment later in the day. Then he completely agreed with me. She's too nice for a whitecoat. There's something going on with her and I want to find out what it is.

"Amber?" a small voice called out. Will and I had chosen names after realizing that it might be necessary if we ever got out. Will had suggested the name to me saying that it was the color of my eyes and hair.

"Yes Reilly?" I called back. Reilly was a little girl that I had raised for the first year here. The whitecoats had placed her in my cage. Reilly's mixed with raccoon, giving her bushy dark gray hair, the famous black raccoon mask around her eyes, a bushy tail, and raccoon ears. She was only a few months old then and I was around 10. They gave me some food to give to her and when she was about 1 and a half, they took her from me and started experiments. For me, that was more painful than any other experiments they'd done to me. I wanted to be able to stop them from doing experiments and tests on her so badly. I had defended her as if she was one of my kittens, placing myself between her and the whitecoats. One of the whitecoats shot me with a tranquilizer dart and took her when I was out. I didn't see her for a long time after that. It was only last week that they brought her back and put her in a cage a few down from mine. We recognized each other instantly but I haven't been able to hold her in my arms or even touch her in that time.

"My arms hurt. My tail too." She told me softly.

"I know sweetie. It'll go away. My arm and tail hurt too. But it's getting better every minute." I comforted her.

"I'm scared." She said even quieter. Those two words broke my heart. I wanted to go to her and hold her and never let anything hurt her so she wouldn't have to be scared. My pain filled eyes met Will's. I didn't know what to tell her. I wanted more than anything to tell her that she shouldn't be scared because everything was going to all right. But that would mean I would be lying to her. Because I knew she should be scared of what the whitecoats would do next and I didn't know if things were going to be all right.

"It's okay if you're scared. I am too, but things are going to be okay in the end." Will told her. I sent him a grateful glance.

The door opened and everyone scrambled back in his or her cage. I sighed in relief as I saw Natasha coming in. The other experiments that knew her sighed in relief with me. At least getting to the test wouldn't be painful. Then the door opened again and a man came in. I had never seen him before. He was definitely older than Natasha. His black hair was graying and he had tanned skin. The strangest part was that he was gazing at us in surprise and barely concealed horror. It was like when Natasha had first seen me come out of the maze.

I shared a confused glance with Will.

"Who is this guy?" I whispered to him. He shrugged.

They walked around side by side, Natasha occasionally saying stuff about a certain experiment. As they reached our side of the row of cages, they stopped in front of my cage.

"Is this Leopard Girl?" the unknown whitecoat asked.

"It's Amber." Will said, his voice hard and untrusting.

"Is this Amber?" he said, correcting himself.

"Yes." Natasha said. She unlatched my cage.

"Come on out. It's not a test today." She told me. Will shot me a warning glance, silently telling me to not listen to her.

"If there's no test then why do I need to go out?" I asked her, curious.

"We just want to talk to you. We need to ask you some questions where the other people can't see or hear us." The other whitecoat said.

The door to the room opened and an Eraser walked in followed by another whitecoat. They stopped in front of Will's cage and I looked at him fearfully.

"Is she not cooperating? I'll get her out." The Eraser asked and he picked up my cage and turned it upside down so that I fell out and landed in a heap on the floor. I stood up quickly and hissed at him, baring my teeth. He growled back at me.

"Enough." The whitecoat that had come in with him said. The whitecoat opened up Will's cage and I watched as he came out slowly, his limbs stiff. He was about a head taller than me. Looking up at him and seeing the fear in his eyes, I reached out and grabbed his hand and gave it a small squeeze before letting go. He smiled slightly. Natasha grabbed me gently around the neck and the tail and led me towards the door. Before we left though, I heard the Eraser say,

"Aww does birdie have a crush on kitty? Too bad she might not survive what we have planned for her." A loud smack and a howl of pain followed after that. I whirled around. From what I saw, it looked like Will had punched the Eraser in the nose who now had a stream of blood coming from his nose. The Eraser grinned evilly and transformed into its more wolf-like form. I heard Natasha and the other whitecoat gasp. The Eraser rushed at Will and slashed him across the leg. Will fell to the ground, clutching his leg. I rushed at the Eraser and kicked him in the face, resulting in a loud crack and a howl of pain from the Eraser. I had broken his nose. He quickly recovered and I jumped back as he shot his hand out. But I wasn't quick enough when his other hand flashed toward me and raked across my side. I screamed and fell to the floor. The Eraser came over to me and was going to step on my neck when the whitecoat that had come in with him decided to intervene.

"Enough!" he shouted and the Eraser stopped and went over to him. He and the whitecoat picked up Will and they left. Natasha and the other whitecoat ran over to me. Natasha looked panicked and the other whitecoat was taking deep breaths as he examined my wound. I was thinking how strange that there are two whitecoats that seemed to care.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey guys, Sorry for the wait! School just started and I'm getting used to the massive amounts of homework. **

**I forgot to add this to the last chapter. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! I love you guys! I seriously didn't know so many people would read this. :D I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to have Max and the gang show up but I'm definitely going to mention them. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or the Avengers**

****Line Break*****

My mind slowly came to consciousness. I opened my eyes a fraction but shut them immediately from the harsh light. I took a deep breath…well, attempted to. My side erupted in pain when I did so it ended in a hiss. I forced my eyes open and blinked quickly to adjust them. When they did, I saw that I was in a white room, lying on an examination table. I shot up in panic and cried out from the pain in my side.

"Easy now."

I turned quickly towards the voice and saw the whitecoat that had come in with Natasha. He held up his hands in the universal meaning, "I come in peace"

"That was a nasty cut you got there, you don't want to open it up again. I'm amazed that it's already pretty much healed. I'm Bruce by the way. Bruce Banner." He held out his hand. I stared at it suspiciously for a few seconds before shaking it. No hidden pointy needle or electric shock hurt me and I let out a slight sigh of relief.

"How long was I out?" I asked him.

"Only a few hours, surprisingly. You lost a lot of blood. How do you feel?" He asked me.

"I feel okay except for when I move my side. That feels like getting electrocuted whenever I do." I told him. He nodded.

"Where's Natalie?" I asked, using the name she told me to use around other people.

"You mean Natasha?" he asked. The suspicion that they knew each other from somewhere else was confirmed. I nodded.

"She's going to see what happened to your bird friend. She'll bring him here when they take him back to his cage so we can fix him up." He told me. I was just confused.

"Why are you helping us? Who are you guys really? You can't be whitecoats. Whitecoats wouldn't be helping us." I asked him. It was true. If he were a normal whitecoat, he wouldn't care whether or not we got a little torn up.

"It's best if Natasha is here to help me answer the second question. Hopefully she'll be here soon. I can tell you we're helping you because it's the right thing to do. Nobody should have to go through what you've been going through." He said.

The door then opened and Natasha came in supporting a very beat up Will. His face was bruised and had a cut running down his cheek. He had another nasty cut on his arm and many more bruises. There was also the cut on his leg. Bruce rushed forward and took Will from Natasha and she closed the door. I slid off the table and watched as they lay him on the table.

"You can't have him on his back for too long. His wings will get bruised or crushed." I told them. Bruce looked over at me and nodded. Natasha grabbed some towels and water. I watched them start cleaning his wounds.

"It's Amber now right?" Natasha asked from where she was cleaning the cut on his face.

"Yeah. We decided to name ourselves after you fixed my arm." I replied.

"Ok. Come over here and take my place. I need to make sure no one can see us here." She told me. Eyebrows furrowed in confusion, I walked over to her. She showed me how to properly clean the cut and walked over to the corner of the room. It felt weird, like the roles had been switched. Instead of me lying helplessly on the table, I was the one looking down on the one on the table. It was like I was a whitecoat. I pushed the thought out of my head quickly and went back to dabbing the cut with a wet towel, telling myself that I was helping him, not hurting him. Bruce was stitching up the cut on his leg currently. Natasha had a hand pressed to her ear and for the first time I noticed the small metal thing in her ear. She was speaking quietly and my sensitive hearing tuned in as I focused on her.

"Tony, did you get Jarvis to secure the room we told you?" she said.

"Yeah, no one can see you guys. Fury wants to know your current situation." 'Tony' asked. My eyes narrowed in suspicion. What was going on?

"A fight broke out when I was showing Bruce the children. Leopard Girl and a boy mixed with bird DNA sustained bad injuries from one of the wolf-hybrids. Bruce fixed up the girl and now we're working on the boy. We might have to speed up our plan, it would be bad if either of them went through more experiments in this state." She told him. I had unconsciously stopped cleaning the cut while listening, tensing up, as I grew more and more suspicious. A hand was suddenly placed on my shoulder and I whirled around, baring my teeth and snarling. Seeing that it was Bruce, I relaxed slightly and stopped snarling.

"What. Is. Going. On?" I said, glaring at him.

"Natasha come here and help me explain what's going on. I'll give Tony and Fury an explanation later." Bruce called over to her without taking his gaze off of me. With a few more words, she walked over to the table.

"We're from a government organization called S.H.I.E.L.D. and part of the Avengers Initiative. The Avengers are a group of people that have special abilities. You'll find out about more about them later. Recently, we received a message from an anonymous person that there was a secret facility in the middle of Death Valley that was experimenting on children. After finding a few more rumors, they sent me in undercover. I saw that the rumor was true and alerted SHIELD. We agreed that we were going to try and get you and a few other experiments out. They sent Bruce in to help me figure out whom we should get out first. Earlier we were bringing you here so we can have your opinion of who should be brought out first. Then the attack happened, and things got crazy. In a few days, another one of the Avengers is going to come to help break you guys out." Natasha said. My mind was in shock and I stared at her blankly.

"I-I'm getting out of h-here?" I stuttered. They nodded. My mind finally wrapped around the idea and my face broke into a grin. Tears of happiness welled up in my eyes and I didn't bother holding them back. I rushed forward and hugged Natasha, burying my head in her shoulder as I cried. She tensed as if she didn't know how to respond but then relaxed and wrapped her arms around me. I sobbed, letting out all the tears I been holding back. The grief for the experiments that died, the pain from all the injuries, the happiness that I was finally, finally getting out just came out. A hand ran down from my hair to my back gently.

"Shh, shh, it's okay. It's okay. You're getting out. You're getting out. You won't ever have to go through another experiment in a few days." Natasha whispered as I cried. This went on for a few minutes before I calmed down to just a few hiccups that were painful due to my injured side. I took a few deep breaths and I removed my head from Natasha's shoulder. She was looking at me in sympathy. I took a few steps back and I wiped my eyes, trying to dry my face. There was a wet spot on Natasha's shoulder from my tears.

"Sorry. I've been holding back tears for as long as I can remember." I mumbled. Then I noticed Bruce wasn't next to her. I looked around and spotted him in a corner of the room with a hand to his ear and I saw a similar looking piece of metal in his ear. I looked questioningly at Natasha.

"He's giving an update to Tony, who's one of the Avengers by the way." She said. Bruce walked over to us.

"So, we need to know who we should take out of here first." Bruce asked.

"First?" I asked.

"We're going to take a few out first because we still have to figure out where we're going to keep everybody when we get everyone out." Natasha explained.

"Okay. How many are we taking this time?" I asked.

"Along with you, two more." Bruce said.

"Okay. I think we should take Will and Reilly." I told them. Confusion covered their faces.

"Will is the boy on the bed here. Reilly is the little girl that's part raccoon." I clarified.

"I'm not sure Will will be healed enough to make it." Bruce said, his voice unsure.

"Yes he will. He heals faster than I do. Look." I said, pointing towards the cut on his face. It was already almost closed. Bruce's eyes widened as he examined it.

"The rest of his wounds should be pretty much healed in a few days. He'll be able to run." I assured them. Will then stirred. His eyes blinked open. They darted around, taking in his surroundings. When he saw Bruce over him, he panicked, slapping Bruce right across the face. Will scrambled, leaped out of the bed but almost collapsed from the pain in his leg and clutching his arm. I rushed towards him and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"It's okay, don't worry. You're safe. No one's going to hurt you." I told him, supporting some of his weight. Then I noticed a beeping sound coming from behind me. I turned around and saw Bruce hunched over with a slight green tint to his face, taking deep breaths. Natasha was whispering things frantically.

"Take deep breaths, you're okay. Deep breaths, you'll be fine. Calm down." She was saying. She sounded slightly panicked and scared. After a few minutes of him taking deep breaths, he straightened up looking considerably better. The beeping stopped. He nodded at Natasha and she looked incredibly relieved.

"What just happened to him? What was that beeping sound?" I asked, confused.

"Not all of the Avengers can control their abilities." Natasha said.

"What's going on? What are the Avengers?" Will asked, very confused. I explained to him what had happened and what was going to happen. At the news that we were getting out of here, he grinned and hugged me tightly, only letting go when my side started hurting. Natasha and Bruce explained everything afterwards and then led us back to our cages, promising that they'd explain the plan for our escape once they had it figured out.

For the first time, I fell asleep happy, my head filled with thoughts of what the outside world would be like.

**A/N: Review?**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Ahhhhh! I haven't updated in forever! I feel terrible. Homework just left me with no time to write. Hopefully this long chapter makes up for it. Thanks to all those who read and reviewed the last chapter! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or the Avengers **

I woke up filled with excitement and anticipation. Today was the day that we were going to get out! I was still exhausted from the experiments from the day before but my mind was too awake for me to go back to sleep. Peering in the darkness at the cage next to me, I saw that Will was awake and looked as excited as I was. A few cages down, Reilly was still asleep. We hadn't told her. We couldn't, not with all the other experiments here and the whitecoats monitoring us.

The plan was fairly simple. Another one of the Avengers, I think his name was Steve, would be coming in dressed as a whitecoat. We'd know it was him if he asked us what the year was and he'd know if it was us if we replied 1940. I was pretty sure it wasn't 1940 unless I went back in time somehow. He wouldn't ask Reilly though. We'd get her after he got us out. He was going to take us one at a time to the room with Natasha and Bruce. Natasha and Bruce were going to pretend to be taking us to one of the other buildings for an experiment but there some man named Tony was going to start blowing some things up, including the gated path leading to the other building. Then we had to run as fast as we could to a helicopter and then we were home free.

Footsteps sounded outside the door and light flooded the room as the door opened. My eyes blinked hard in order to adjust to the new light. On instinct, I moved as far back in the cage as I could. The footsteps came into the room and determined it was only one person. They sounded hesitant; as if the person didn't know which way he was going. Curious and excited, I peered out of the entrance of the cage.

The man that had walked in was tall and muscularly built. As he came closer I saw he had golden-brown hair, tanned skin, and a kind face that was currently filled with barely masked nervousness and uncertainty. Could it be him? No other whitecoat would look like they didn't know where they were going.

He looked down at the clipboard he was holding and walked in our direction. He came to a stop in front of my cage and kneeled down. After looking down at his clipboard as if to check something, he came closer. I scooted back on instinct, just in case it wasn't him.

"What year is it?" he asked me in a whisper. My heart pounded in excitement and a bit of fear. What if this didn't work? Well, too late now. I gathered my thoughts and courage and replied, "1940."

His gazed flooded with relief and we smiled at each other. He started unlatching my cage and opened the door. I crawled out and stood up. I stretched, uncurling my tail. The last experiment I had was running for hours on a treadmill. That combined with the burn marks from the electric rod they prodded me with when I dared to slow, resulted in aching muscles. Meanwhile, Steve was looking at me in amazement, which turned to horror when he realized what the red spots on my arms were. He shook it off quickly though.

"You're Amber I assume?" he asked me. I nodded.

"I'm Steve Rodgers, ma'am" he then told me and held out his hand for me to shake. I stared at it for a moment before shaking it.

"Where are the other kids I'm supposed to get? Natasha said you could show me." He asked. I took a step towards Will's cage and pointed.

"This is Will. He's the avian hybrid. Reilly is over here." I led him over to Reilly's cage. She was still sleeping. Her face and body twitched in her sleep and she whimpered.

"Is she okay?" he asked me.

"Nightmares." I told him grimly. He remained silent for a few moments as we watched her.

"Let's go." He told me. I showed him how to hold me so any other whitecoats we came across wouldn't be suspicious. He led me out of the room and through the maze the School is. We stopped in front of a door and he opened it. Natasha and Bruce looked up as we came in. Both looked exhausted, as if they hadn't gotten much sleep last night. They asked Steve how it went and if there were any complications. After a few minutes and answers, Steve left again to go get Will.

"Can anybody see us in here?" I asked just to say something.

"No, Tony had JARVIS freeze the security tapes." Bruce said. I was about to ask who JARVIS was but Bruce came over and started checking my burn marks and other injuries, asking many questions. I was getting used to his check-ups even though I had only known him a few days. Natasha had brought me to him after all my tests. He was always careful with what he used to help me, making sure he didn't hurt me or used anything that looked dangerous or threatening. If he needed to use something that did or would hurt (like disinfectant), he thoroughly explained what he was going to do.

The door opened a few minutes later and Steve walked in with Will. The same questions were asked and then Steve left again. Bruce looked over Will and then Natasha started going over the plan again.

"Tony is already close, waiting for our signal. Clint is on his way as well." She said. Her curly long red hair was pulled into a ponytail and I could see a gun strapped to her waist when her white coat moved out of the way.

"How far away will the helicopter be?" Will asked.

"It should be about 50 feet away from the path." Natasha replied.

The door then opened and Steve entered. I peered around him, seeing if Reilly was behind him. She wasn't there. Panic flooded through me.

"Where's Reilly?" I asked, my voice a bit high.

"She wasn't in her cage when I got there. I asked one of the other children and he told me that she had just been taken away. He heard them talking about the big test." He said, his voice grim. At his last words, I gasped in horror.

The big test, or initiation as the whitecoats sometimes put it, was a combination of all the tests. It was an overall test to see how strong (mentally and physically), fast, agile, and tolerant to everything you were. You were put through the maze, injected with lots of painful stuff, stuck in a room with hungry Erasers, electrocuted, stuck underwater, and lots of other painful tests. It was given to all experiments when they passed the age of expected survival. I was put through it a few years back, when I passed the age most of the other feline hybrids died. If we died during the experiments, they just brought us back. We were considered "Top Experiments" if we survived death.

My mind flashed with the memories of the experiments, the pain that came with them. The world spun and I fell to the floor. I grasped my head and squeezed my eyes shut as the memories raced. My breathing quickened till I was hyperventilating. Hands grabbed my head and I panicked, flashing my leg out and causing whomever it was to fall. I sprang back, landing crouched, my tail thrashing back and forth and my fangs bared. My mind was still wrapped in memories, making me see the maze around me. Then hands grabbed my shoulders from behind me and held me tight. I turned around and saw an Eraser grabbing me and I struggled to get out. He shook me and said,

"Amber, shake the memories away. You're. Not. There."

My vision cleared and suddenly I wasn't in the maze and there wasn't an Eraser holding me. I was in a room surrounded by people that wanted to get me out of there and Will was holding me. I stopped struggling and he pulled me to him. I wrapped my arms around him, shaking, and cried silently. He whispered to me that it was ok; that I was safe, and that I'd never go through it again. Will hadn't gone through the big test. There were experiments that were still older than him, even though he was 15. He was the one that had comforted me after the test even though he couldn't really relate to me. He brought my mind back from the near shattered state it was in. My breathing and heart rate slowed back to its normal rate. The tears stopped soon after and I just stood there in his arms. A few moments later, I stepped away from him and wiped my eyes.

"Thank you. I would've attacked everyone if you hadn't brought me back to reality" I told Will. I turned back to the others and saw their shocked and confused expressions.

"What just happened?" Steve asked.

"Memories of the big test." I replied and then explained what the big test was, Will helping me occasionally. They were shocked and then grew angry. They started shouting how this was insane, illegal, and just plain wrong. I agreed with them and then brought them back to the matter at hand.

"We can't let Reilly go through the big test. She won't survive the pain. She'll die and then they'll bring her back. Her mind will be completely shattered!" I said. They were silent for a moment as we tried to figure out how we were going to get her without arousing suspicion.

"I'll go get her. I can come up with something that'll let me take her. I'll contact you when I have her. Then start heading over and continue with the plan."

Natasha said.

"What if you're not with us when we're at the path?" I asked.

"Give Tony the signal and get out. If I'm not at the helicopter then start taking off and hover around out of reach for 10 minutes. Send Tony to come find me after those 10 minutes if I'm not there." She said. I didn't like the idea but she looked like she wasn't going to be taking any arguments so I just nodded.

"I'd take a knife or something sharp with you in case you get into trouble and run out of bullets. Erasers don't go down easy." I said. She nodded and grabbed a knife from one of the supply cabinets. She strapped it next to her gun on her waistband. Just before she opened the door I went over to her and gave her a hug. Just in case the worst happened.

"Don't worry, I'll see you soon." She said with a smile and then left.

The next twenty minutes were spent in painful suspense. I paced back and forth across the room. Bruce and Steve attempted to make small talk. They asked what I remembered from before I was taken to the School. I replied that I didn't remember much. I knew I had already known how to talk when I got here and knew a few letters. As for what the outside world looked like, I only remembered playing in a park and a glimpse of what my parents looked like. Will remembered much more than I did. He came here when he was 8. He told us about his parents, his friends, where he lived (he was from a place called San Francisco), and his life there. I saw the sadness in his eyes when he spoke. He told me of all good food there too. Apparently you could eat everyday, three times a day. The thought of eating so much seemed weird to me. At the school here, we were always hungry. I can't remember the time I was full fed. We got fed every few tests and the food we did get was bread or in the form of an IV.

I was examining my claws when a beep sounded from Bruce and Steve. They pressed a hand to their ear and listened.

"I got her. She was in the maze. I told them that the Director of the School wanted her to go to the other building. She's barely conscious. I'm going to bandage up one of her arms that's worse off. Go on ahead with the plan. I'll see you there." My enhanced hearing picked up Natasha's voice from the earpiece.

We left the room, Bruce leading me. Steve had a hold of Will next to us. We walked down seemingly endless white hallways and passed a countless numbers of doors, some of which had screaming in them. Finally, we reached a door a green "EXIT" sign on it and a map showing the path to the next building. Steve pressed a button on his earpiece and spoke quietly, "Tony start blasting." Soon afterwards we heard a loud "BOOM" and alarms started going off. We opened the door and walked outside.

The air was hot and dry. There was sand everywhere and I could see some shrubs in the distance. I took a deep breath of the outside air, taking in all the smells and just the naturalness of it. This was real air, not air that had been processed in an air conditioning unit. The heat was incredible. I started sweating almost immediately, my body not used to changes in temperature.

I saw smoke pouring out from the left side of the building across from us. Looking up, I saw a red flash in the air and then the middle of the path exploded. Bruce and Steve pushed us ahead of them saying, "Go!" We ran as fast as we could towards the now broken section of the gate. Then, from the building poured out a dozen Erasers. They ran towards us and we skidded to a halt.

"Stark, we need another exit!" Steve said a bit panicked. Erasers then poured out from the entrance we just came from, trapping us. A high beeping came from the watch on Bruce's wrist and he doubled over, groaning.

I pushed my fears back and I unsheathed my claws. Growling, I rushed forward towards the Erasers blocking the exit. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Will running next to me. Punching the first Eraser in the jaw, I then kneed him in the stomach, causing him to double over. I kicked his head and moved onto the next one. In my mind, I heard the voice of a past experiment that told me where they were most sensitive and how I should attack. _Thanks Max_ I thought.

I clapped my hands over the next one's ears and kicked him between the legs. Moving quickly between Erasers, I clawed, punched, and kicked. I tired quickly however, and soon my punches and kicks became slower. One Eraser punched me in the gut; the next slashed my arm. Sometimes I saw Steve and Will. Steve surprised me. He was easily holding his own against them even though I'd seen Erasers kill humans easily. There was still no sign of Natasha and Reilly.

As my mind wandered, the Eraser I was fighting suddenly grabbed me around the neck. He pushed me against the gate and squeezed hard, cutting off my air supply. I clawed his hand desperately, trying to get the air I needed. He wouldn't let go though. Black dots danced across my vision and my hands barely had any strength as they feebly tried to pry his hand off. Just as I was about to pass out, a loud roar sounded and then the pressure around my neck disappeared. I fell to the ground, gasping in huge gulps of air. Looking around, I looked for what caused the Eraser to let me go. A huge green…. thing stood a few feet away, tearing through the mass of Erasers. It was flinging them away effortlessly. A few Erasers bit him but he just crushed them it it's big hand. Then Steve was next to me. Somehow he had gotten a circular red, white, and blue shield.

"Go! That way!" he told me, and I saw a clear path to the opening in the gate. I stumbled that way, still weak from the last Eraser. Steve fought any Erasers that came our way, though most were occupied with the big green thing. I caught glimpses of what looked like a red and gold robot thing next to Will fighting the Erasers. At last we reached the hole and Steve pushed me through.

"Start running! I'll get Will!" he shouted then ran back into the fray. Looking out into the desert, I spotted what I assumed was a helicopter and ran towards it. Moments later, Will and Steve appeared next to me. Steve jumped onto the helicopter and then helped Will and I on.

"Where's Bruce?" I wheezed, out of breath.

"He's okay. We probably won't see him for a while." Steve replied. I was too tired to question him.

"Start up the engine and Natasha said to hover around for a while." Steve told the pilot. The pilot did as he said and soon we were in the air. At Natasha's name I stood up from my seat and looked out from the door. I scanned the scene. The green thing was still fighting; the Erasers didn't stand a chance against it. The red and gold robot thing flew towards the helicopter and I backed up and braced myself for whatever might come. It landed neatly inside and before I could start fighting the faceplate came up and I saw a man inside. He had tanned skin, black hair, and brown eyes. I was so startled that my defensive stance disappeared that I sat back down. He held up his hands in a show of peace and said to me, "I come in peace, don't worry sweetheart."

He turned towards Steve and said, "There a couple dozen more of those things though Banner looks like he's got them covered. I have no idea how we're going to get him to turn back though. There's no sign of Natasha and the other girl. If they don't show up in a few minutes I'm going in to search for them."

I was about to ask what me meant about Bruce but then I heard a high pitch scream above the sound of the helicopters spinning blades. Only Will seemed to have heard as well because his face paled and he lunged towards the edge of the helicopter.

"Reilly!" I screamed and I rushed to the door of the helicopter. Scanning the battlefield, I spotted Reilly and Natasha.

"There!" I pointed towards them. Reilly was in the grasp of an Eraser and I saw Natasha a few feet away, busy fighting two others. The robot/metal man took off in their direction but before he could reach them the big green thing tore the two Erasers away from Natasha who then shot the Eraser holding Reilly in the head. It fell to the ground, dropping Reilly. Natasha reached to Reilly, who seemed to be unconscious. Then more Erasers poured out of the building. The big green thing then grabbed Reilly in its hand and ran towards us and jumped. It grabbed the helicopter with one hand and the helicopter leaned dangerously to the side and began to spin. It placed Reilly inside, gently I might add, and then let go. The helicopter rocked back and forth dangerously for a few minutes before it steadied and was able to fly straight. The metal man appeared a second later with Natasha. I jumped out of my seat and grabbed Reilly. Checking her vitals, I found them strong. Then I held her in my arms for the first time in years. I buried my face in her hair and breathed in her scent. Someone tried to take her away from me but I growled at him or her so they just let me be. Faintly I heard Will explaining my protectiveness but I didn't care.

I was free.


End file.
